The Grandeur of God (Part Two)

[0:00] But this evening we are back in the book of Job and for the penultimate time, Phil thought last week we were going to have just one more, but it was just too much and we decided that we would have two more weeks on Job.

[0:15] But even so, we have a long reading this evening before a much shorter one to round off the book next Sunday evening. So we're going to read this evening from Job chapter 40 at verse 6 through to the end of chapter 41.

[0:34] And if you've not been here, not been following this, there's a long cycle of speeches in this book after the drama of the first two chapters where we hear of the absolute calamity that befalls poor Job and his friends who come to comfort him.

[0:50] Well, you know what a Job's comforter is. And then at last, the Lord himself has spoken and answered Job.

[1:01] And we read the first part of that last Sunday evening. And we're going to pick it up here at chapter 40 in verse 6 where the Lord answers Job again.

[1:15] Job chapter 40 then at verse 6. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, dress for action like a man.

[1:27] I'll question you and you make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God and can you thunder with a voice like his?

[1:42] Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity. Clothe yourself with glory and splendor. Pour out the overflowings of your anger. And look on everyone who is proud and obeys him.

[1:57] Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them all in the dust together. Bind their faces in the world below. Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.

[2:13] Behold Behemoth, the beast, which I made as I made you. He eats grass, grass like an ox. Behold his strength and his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly.

[2:29] He makes his tail stiff like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze. His limbs like bars of iron. He is the first of the works of God.

[2:44] Let him who made him bring near his sword. For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play. Under the lotus plant he lies in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.

[2:58] For his shade the lotus trees cover him. The willows of the brooks surround him. Behold if the river is turbulent he is not frightened. He is confident.

[3:11] Though Jordan rushes against his mouth. Can one take him by the eyes or pierce his nose with a snare? Can you draw out Leviathan, the great dragon, with a fish hook?

[3:27] Or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?

[3:40] Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as you play with a bird? Or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Both traders bargain over him.

[3:52] Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons? His head with fishing spears? Lay your hands on him. Remember the battle.

[4:04] You'll not do it again. Behold, the hope of a man is false. He's laid low even at the sight of him.

[4:16] No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? Who has first given to me that I should repay him?

[4:30] Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. I'll not keep silence concerning his limbs or his mighty strength or his goodly frame. Who can strip off his outer garment?

[4:42] Who would come near him with a bridle? Who could force the doors of his face around his teeth as terror? His back is made of rows of shields cut up closely, shut up closely as with a seal.

[4:55] No one. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They're joined to one another. They clasp each other and cannot be separated. His sneezings flash forth light.

[5:10] His eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. Out of his mouth go flaming torches. Sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils come forth smoke.

[5:22] As from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals. And a flame comes forth from his mouth. In his neck abides strength.

[5:33] And terror dances before him. The folds of his flesh stick together firmly cast on him. And immovable. His heart is hard as stone. Hard as the lower millstone.

[5:45] When he raises himself up. The mighty are afraid. At the crashing there beside themselves. Though the sword reaches him. It does not avail.

[5:56] Nor the spear. The dart. Or the javelin. He counts iron as straw. And bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee. For him sling stones are turned to stubble.

[6:11] Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rattle of javelins. His underparts are like sharp potsherds. He spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.

[6:24] He makes the deep boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment. Behind him he leaves a shining wake. One would think the deep to be white haired.

[6:37] For earth there is not his like. A creature without fear. He sees everything that is high. He is king. Over all the sons of pride.

[6:52] Amen. May God bless to us his word. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[7:03] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Please do have your Bibles open to Job 40. On Friday I sat at my office desk looking out the window as a powerful storm swept over the city centre of Glasgow.

[7:26] The lightning flashed before my eyes. The thunder crashed in my ears. It was an immense storm. Well here in Job 38 to 41 an even greater storm has swept down upon Job and the other men who were with him on the ash heap.

[7:44] It was no ordinary storm. Have a look at verse 6 again. The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, out of the storm. Remember throughout the book we have seen Job, this man who suffered so terribly, crying out in great pain and deep anguish, this question to the Lord in prayer.

[8:06] Why? Why Lord have you allowed such appalling suffering and catastrophes to sweep over my life? Why is it that you seem to be treating me as though I'm your enemy?

[8:18] Why? I can't understand it because I am a real believer. Someone who fears you and turns away from evil. I feel like a miner who's searching for wisdom down a massive deep mine shaft.

[8:33] But it's futile searching for it because I know that at the end of the day only you, Lord, can give me the wisdom and the understanding that I'm seeking. So please, Lord, speak to me.

[8:45] Give me a day in court with you. I want to stand before you. The thought terrifies me, but I want to plead with you. And I want you to tell me what on earth you are doing and why it is that I have suffered.

[8:58] And that's what the Lord, Job has been crying out to the Lord. And remarkably, the Lord graciously comes to his suffering servant and personally speaks to him out of the storm.

[9:08] And he makes two speeches. We looked at the first speech last Sunday night in chapter 38 to 39. And in this week, we're in the Lord's second speech. Let me just give you a reminder of this important fact that we looked at last week.

[9:23] And it's this, that in these speeches, the Lord is not verbally tearing Job to pieces. You read some of the commentators and that's what they think the Lord is doing here.

[9:35] But I think that's quite wrong. The Lord is not giving Job a harsh rebuke for some of the heated things and shocking things that he said earlier on in the book. Yes, there are plenty of things in these speeches that will really humble Job, but in a good way.

[9:53] But ultimately, the main purpose of these speeches is to bring Job great peace and comfort so that he will be strengthened and lifted up and helped to persevere by faith.

[10:07] That's what the Lord is seeking to do here with Job, to encourage him so that he will keep turning away from evil and fearing the Lord. And in speech one, the Lord, what he does is he takes Job on this mind-blowing tour of the cosmos.

[10:21] We go all over the place, up in the heavens, down to the depths of Sheol, east to west, all over the place. And the Lord, as he did that, he was showing how the whole of the created order is charged with the grandeur of God.

[10:35] And as God does that, he was really teaching two points, two big truths that Job already knew, but now knows in greater depth. The first truth was that God is the all-powerful creator of everything, and that he is the all-powerful sustainer of all of life.

[10:54] There's not one inch or millimeter of the cosmos that is outside of God's providence. And that's actually such a surprising reply for the Lord to give to Job, because we would expect the Lord to come and give a straight answer to the why question, would we not?

[11:11] But you see, the Lord doesn't do that. He doesn't get into a big philosophical debate about the nature of suffering. Instead, the Lord does something far greater and far more helpful. He takes Job's eyes off of himself and his grim circumstances, and he fixes Job's eyes upon the Lord God himself.

[11:31] As Bob Fowl says, God is directing Job to a wider panorama, vaster visions. God is directing Job to himself.

[11:41] For God himself is the answer. And God himself is Job and our only hope. And the Lord really continues to do this in his second speech.

[11:55] And he will speak words to Job that will cause Job to have a greater and deeper knowledge of the Lord, so that Job will be comforted. And with the remainder of our time, let's look at chapter 40 to 41, under two headings.

[12:08] Two headings. Two big truths. Again, Job knows. He's got knowledge of these things already. We can know that from earlier on in the book. But now having seen them from the Lord's perspective, Job comes away after the end of this speech with a deeper knowledge, and he's comforted.

[12:25] So here's the first point. The Lord is the just judge of the world. The Lord is the just judge of the world. That's really what is being said here in verse 8 to 14.

[12:38] Verse 8 to 14. Now earlier on in our studies in this book, when we looked at some of Job's dark and devastating laments, we heard Job, as I said a moment ago, making some very shocking statements.

[12:54] Very heated statements, full of passion and full of pain. For example, back in chapter 9, Job cried out in immense pain that the terrible suffering that he had experienced had rocked him to the core and caused him to question God's justice.

[13:09] Now when Job spoke that way, when he questioned God's justice, he was not sinning against the Lord. We know that from the end of the book. But rather, he was honestly expressing the painful perplexity that filled up his heart at that moment.

[13:27] And I take it that in these verses, the Lord is graciously coming and addressing that in Job. He's reassuring him that he really is the just judge of the whole world.

[13:37] But again, the surprise of these verses is that the Lord doesn't answer Job in the way we might expect. We would expect if God was defending himself, not that he needs to, but if anyone was making a defense of themselves, they would run through their conduct point by point, examining their judgments and actions.

[13:54] But instead, in verse 9 to 14, God challenges Job. And he says to Job, remember, nice and gently, Job, why don't you have a go at being the just judge of the world?

[14:09] That is what he says to Job here. Go on, Job, why don't you step up and be the just judge of all the earth? Go for it. You can do that, Job, can't you? Verse 9. To begin with, you will have to raise up your mighty and powerful arm, almost as mighty and powerful as, in the same way that I raise up my mighty and powerful arm.

[14:28] And then in verse 10, Job, you need to adorn yourself with majesty and dignity, clothe yourself with splendor. In other words, Job, come on, take my royal robes, my judge's wig, and gown of majesty and honor.

[14:44] Why don't you put them on? And once you've put them on, Job, then in verse 11, he says you can proceed to pour out your righteous anger and hostility at all things evil and upon all of the injustice in the world.

[14:59] Go on, Job. You can do that, can't you? Verse 12. Search out all the people's hearts in the world and look at the proud. Find the proud and bring them down, Job.

[15:12] Verse 13. Hide the proud in the dust. That is, bring them down to the grave as a just punishment for their pride. You can do that, Job, can't you? Verse 14.

[15:24] The Lord sums it up by saying, when you've finally succeeded in doing all of this, Job, on the day that you do that, I will admit that you have it within your power and wisdom to save yourself.

[15:36] And then, I will gladly abdicate and hand over the government of the cosmos to you. That is what the Lord is saying to Job here. And of course, Job can't do any of it.

[15:50] But the Lord can. And the Lord does. He really is the just judge of the world. And Job, even though he's in immense pain, he must remember that this is the case.

[16:04] Even though in his experience, he feels that the Lord is being unjust. That is just never the case. And friends, we must remember this truth as well.

[16:15] For when suffering and evil sweep over the lives of faithful and blameless believers, it could cause us to question God's justice. So we must remember that at all times, no matter how things appear, no matter how dark and depressing our situations are, the Lord never ceases to be the just judge.

[16:35] And one day, he really will see that justice is done for his people. He really will vindicate all those who feared him. Come back next Sunday evening when God willing, we'll look at the end of the book to find out a bit more about that point.

[16:51] Well, that's the first big truth that the Lord shows Job. And I'm going to have a glass of water here. I've had enough water today. All over my trousers and my shirt.

[17:02] It's remarkable that I'm dry for you right now. But if you see any weird marks on my clothing, it was the rain. It's the rain. Well, here's the second big truth. And it's this.

[17:14] The Lord is in complete control of evil. Pure evil. And that is really what the rest of this speech is all about.

[17:25] The main body of what we're going to look at tonight is this point. From chapter 40, verse 15, to the end of chapter 41. The Lord is in complete control of evil.

[17:37] If you were here last Sunday, you will remember that this is a truth, really, that the Lord hinted at. He brought up subtly when he spoke in his first speech to Job. Remember back in chapter 38, verse 8 to 11, he told Job that he was the all-powerful, sovereign creator of the sea.

[17:55] And remember, the Lord is not just talking there literally about the sea, although he is. He was also using the sea to speak symbolically about the powers of darkness, the powers of evil, the place of chaos, and darkness, and danger, the home of the powers of evil.

[18:14] In other words, the Lord assured Job back in his first speech that he was sovereign over evil and that he uses it to bring about his own glorious purposes in the cosmos.

[18:25] We saw something similar in chapter 39, didn't we? Remember when the Lord showed Job on his grand tour of the cosmos the animal kingdom? And he said, Job, I control even the predators.

[18:38] Think of the hawk and the eagle when they leave their nest and they go down. I am the Lord who commands them to go down and swoop upon their prey, take them back up and suck the blood of the prey.

[18:51] I am the Lord who is in control of all that savagery. He is the Lord who uses that and death to bring about his own glorious purposes. And here in this second speech, which I think is really the big climax of the book, the Lord takes this truth and expands upon it massively.

[19:09] And he introduces us to two monsters, two terrifying beasts, one called Behemoth and the other Leviathan.

[19:21] And when the Lord shows Job these two monsters, he is really showing Job who his real enemy is. This is the real enemy.

[19:34] You see, Behemoth and Leviathan, they are not funny names for a hippopotamus and a crocodile. Again, a lot of commentators say that that is what the Lord is describing here, just a hippo and a crocodile.

[19:45] But I think that is really not right at all. Now it is true that Behemoth seems to have hippo-like traits and likewise Leviathan has some crocodile-like traits. But when you look at the detail of the text and what the Lord says about these monsters, it is clear that they are not the type of animals you would find in Edinburgh Zoo.

[20:06] Let's just look at what the Lord says about these two beasts in turn and then we will ask who are they? So let's look at what the Lord says about Behemoth. And this is from chapter 40 verse 15 to 24.

[20:19] Now in the Hebrew, the name Behemoth could be translated as the super beast. The beast par excellence. There is no other greater beast than this beast.

[20:31] In verse 15, we are told that he eats grass like an ox. Now this is not teaching that he is a placid creature. Rather, apparently, it was a common way back in those days of saying that he has an insatiable appetite.

[20:46] And my wife will be watching this at home and she'll probably say that I'm a bit of a behemoth in our house because that just seems to be true of me and sadly my sons as well. But the behemoth will eat and eat and eat in the same way that an ox will eat and eat and eat and never appear to be full.

[21:03] He is constantly feeding on his prey, whatever it is. And the Lord invites Job in his mind's eye to behold this super beast. And I want to encourage you to do this.

[21:15] One of the things I'm trying to do here with these speeches and we're taking big chunks is I want to inspire you to go away and read these passages on your own and to let the poetry captivate your mind and your imagination so you're sucked in and so that you get to see what the Lord is describing here and all of its horror.

[21:33] Let's just read a bit together. Look at verse 16. This is behemoth. Behold his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly. He makes his tail stiff like a cedar.

[21:46] The sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze. His limbs are like bars of iron. This is a terrifying creature.

[21:57] But why does the Lord want Job to picture this in his mind's eye? Why does he want to terrify him? Well, I take it he wants Job to see the horrors of this beast so that Job will also know just how much stronger the Lord must be and how terrifying the Lord must be.

[22:21] Please look at verse 15. What does he say there? Behold behemoth which came into the cosmos of its own power. No. Behold behemoth which I made.

[22:32] As I made you Job by the way. I made this monster. Verse 19. He behemoth is the first of the works of God.

[22:43] In other words the Lord is saying to Job picture this super beast behold his power and his strength he's so strong and intimidating but Job don't you forget that even this super beast is nothing compared to me.

[22:55] Nothing. Behemoth is another one of my creatures. I made him and therefore I rule him completely. And don't miss the very important detail at the end of verse 19.

[23:09] What does he say there? He says let him who made him bring near his sword. I take it the Lord is saying that he is the only one who has the power to end this beast and that this beast will only exist for as long as the Lord wants it to exist.

[23:25] One day the Lord will bring a sword down upon this beast. Behemoth will not last forever. So that's what the Lord says about Behemoth.

[23:38] Let's look now at what he says about Leviathan which is really the main focus of this second speech. The whole of chapter 41 is dedicated to this second creature and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in verse 1 the name Leviathan is actually translated as the dragon.

[23:57] And from verses 1 to 8 just notice the Lord reverts back to this tactic that he used in his first speech where he fires rhetorical question after rhetorical question to Job again to capture Job's imagination to focus his mind's eye upon this beast this dragon creature.

[24:15] And of course the Lord uses a lot of humour here as well. Look at verse 1 he says Job can you draw Leviathan out of the sea with your fish hook?

[24:28] One of the things I like to do to relax at night is I love to surf through YouTube and I love to find videos where people have had encounters with animals and there was a video of I believe it was in Florida of a man out with his son and they're in a swamp in Florida and earlier on in the day they dropped little these tiny little like fishing lines down into the swamp with bait at the bottom with a little float at the top to try and catch catfish.

[24:57] And the video has got the son's obviously taking it and the dad's there and he's acting all tough and hard in front of his son and he just pulls up and he's going oh this is a big one son this is good and you can see the wee boy shaking the camera with excitement and they pull it up and all of a sudden this massive alligator head comes up and the dad nearly falls over into the water on the other side and immediately loses all cool in front of his son.

[25:20] The horror across their face when they see this beast but that's what's being pictured here. Job can you do that with a viathan something far more powerful than an alligator with your flimsy little fishing line can you pull him out of the water Job?

[25:35] Verse 2 and when you've got him out of the water can you muzzle him tame him domesticate him shoving a rope through his nose putting a hook through his massive jaws can you manage that Job?

[25:48] Then verse 3 the Lord says to Job will this terrible sea monster after you've muzzled him will he start to plead with you Job to show mercy to him that he's so terrified of you?

[26:00] Verse 4 will Leviathan then agree to be your begrudging servant forever? Verse 5 can you take him back to your house open the front door and introduce him to your kids and say hey kids here's our new family pet Leviathan come and give him a pet can you do that Job?

[26:20] And verse 6 this is a very bizarre image this but the Lord says could you at any moment decide to chop him up into pieces and take him down to the local fish market and sell him off in small pieces to the local fishmongers can you do that Job?

[26:34] Have you got that power? and of course all of the answers to the Lord's questions here are no not a chance Job could never exercise such might and rule over Leviathan but again the Lord can and the Lord does and just notice what is the Lord like in comparison with Leviathan?

[27:00] Well please look at verse 10 and 11 and this is talking firstly about Leviathan it says no one is so fierce that he dares to stir him that's Leviathan up who then is he who can stand before me who has first given to me that I should repay him whatever is under the whole heaven is mine so behemoth is no match for the Lord and neither is Leviathan the Lord is infinitely more powerful and intimidating than either of these creatures that's what the Lord is saying in verse 10 to 11 if you think that it would be scary to stand in the presence of a Leviathan well you ain't seen nothing yet what must it be like to stand in my presence in full view of all of my glory no one not even Leviathan has any purchase any call on or any rights over me says the Lord I owe no creature anything I am the creator of the heaven and the earth and whatever is under the whole heaven is mine and that really does include evil

[28:07] Leviathan and behemoth think about Leviathan and tremble and then think about what it means for me to be the sovereign almighty creator and think about what that must mean for Leviathan too for Leviathan must be petrified of the Lord you see all the things that the Lord challenges Job to do here in verses 1 to 8 all these things that Job cannot do with Leviathan well the Lord has done them and the Lord continues to do with them he's saying to Job Leviathan is on my leash he's my pet he's completely under my control he can never ever step beyond the limit that I have set for him and we don't have time to go through the rest of the details in the chapter but in verse 12 to 34 the Lord pours out more and more terrifying details about this monster of all monsters and as the chapter goes on it becomes more and more apparent that he's definitely not talking about a crocodile here again I'd really encourage you to read these verses later on maybe not before you go to bed before you turn the light off because I guarantee it will give you nightmares you'll be screaming out in your sleep but just in summary let me just pick out just a few things of what the Lord says he's a frightening face his jaws are like massive doors with rows upon rows of sharp razor teeth to look at this face is to know what it is to look at the face of a hungry great white shark speeding at you through the water he is covered in thick scales that act as a colossal body armor and there's no gaps in between the scales so you might shove a harpoon in there there's no point of vulnerability to human attack he breathes out fire which in the poetry seems to suggest that inside him in his heart is pure hatred and anger pure hatred and anger is what gets this creature going also in verse 24 we're told that his heart is as hard as stone and that means at the very core of this creature is spiritual deadness rebellious pride and utter hostility to the Lord God and in verse 31 to 32 we see that Leviathan loves to thrash around in the deep in the deep depths of the sea in the place of death the place associated with chaos disorder evil hostility to God this is his home ground it's where he loves to thrash around and then at the climax of the chapter look at verse 33 to 34 the Lord says on earth there is not his like a creature without fear he sees everything that is high he is king over all the sons of pride there is no other creature like Leviathan on earth he fears nothing he fears no one in the created order he is the king of the proud he has some sort of dominion over all those who are hard-hearted and hostile to the Lord in his kingdom so that is what the Lord says about these two monsters but who are they let's start with

[31:24] Leviathan should be obvious shouldn't it I think it's absolutely clear that Leviathan is none other than the figure that we met at the start of the book in chapters 1 and 2 this Satan the one who showed himself to be so utterly against Job and against the Lord and yet the one who could only act within the strict limitations that the sovereign Lord put upon him do you remember Satan wanted to utterly destroy Job but the Lord says no spare his life and that is exactly what happened elsewhere in the Bible we see plenty of passages that speak about Satan with this Leviathan name Psalm 74 for example says this you Lord divided the sea by your might you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters you crushed the heads of Leviathan you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness or Isaiah 27 where the prophet speaks about the Lord having an ultimate victory over his ultimate enemy the prophet says in that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish

[32:36] Leviathan the fleeing serpent Leviathan the twisting serpent he will slay the dragon that is in the sea and of course all of this was also pictured in Revelation 12 in that glorious passage where it says that the great dragon that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan who leads this whole world astray he's mentioned there so I think it's absolutely clear Leviathan is Satan well what about Behemoth well in his excellent books on Job the great Bob Fyle who I've quoted pretty much every week I've done this series along with Christopher Ash argues very convincingly that the Behemoth stands for the personified figure of death rather as we sometimes portray death as a hooded figure with a sickle like the grim reaper Bob gives many many convincing reasons for this thinking we don't have time to go over them now let me just mention two firstly in the immediate context of the

[33:37] Behemoth passage chapter 40 verse 13 and 14 the Lord speaks about controlling death putting the proud in the ground in the dust and then immediately the next verse he goes on to talk about being the Lord over Behemoth in the very next verse could it be that the Lord is speaking in one verse plainly and then figuratively in the next I think so another reason that Bob gives to say Behemoth is death is from the fact that throughout the whole Bible Satan and death are regularly spoken of together all the time so it makes sense that this would be the case here as well Bob mentions many many more compelling reasons for saying Behemoth is death if you want to know more come and speak to me afterwards I'd love to share with you his work on it so in summary the Lord has ultimately unmasked Job's real enemies Behemoth and Leviathan death and Satan they are the enemies who have been so savaging

[34:40] Job's life especially Leviathan it's his hand that has reached out and touched Job's life and brought such catastrophes upon him he is a ferocious enemy and Job has got no chance of taking him by himself just like you and I today we have got no chance ourselves against these enemies but ultimately Job need not fear because the Lord God is for Job by grace and the Lord God has Leviathan on a leash and the Lord God is using the evil of Leviathan and Behemoth to ultimately bring about his own good and glorious plans and purposes I take it that's what Job learns here his life and indeed the whole cosmos is one big battleground of this massive conflict between the sovereign Lord and the powers of evil and there's so much that the Lord doesn't say so many other things so many things that the

[35:42] Lord leaves a mystery but ultimately Job learns that Satan is God Satan to quote Martin Luther and that fills Job with awe and it comforts Job immensely and friends it should do the same for us today as believers as those who fear the Lord listen to Christopher Ash before we draw things to a close and this is him speaking about this chapter and the lessons that Job learns the Lord's answer to Job does not give us a philosophically filled in and tidied up schema that can explain the problem of suffering and evil but it does something deeper it opens our eyes to who God is he is the only God without rival even the mystery of evil is his mystery even Satan the Leviathan is God Satan and that means that as we suffer and as we sit with others who suffer we may be with absolute confidence bowed down to the sovereign God knowing that the evil that comes may be terrible terrible but it cannot and will not ever go one tiny fraction beyond the leash on which

[37:01] God has put it it will not go on forever for the one to whom we belong is God and in the end he will bring the sword upon his enemies and friends you know it's not until we get to the New Testament where we learn what it cost God to win this victory over Leviathan for this was no Olympian victory won from a great height by an impassive dictator God on the contrary this victory over Satan was won paradoxically on the cross of Jesus Christ it's just as the writer to the Hebrews explains the reason the son of God came in human flesh was that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil the one who is God even over Leviathan suffered on the cross he is the God who deals in scars for he bears them in the person of his son and listen to this when the darkness of Leviathan's presence overwhelms us and there will be times when it will overwhelm us you and

[38:11] I really can and must turn with great confidence to this God alone well amen let's be quiet for a moment and then I'll pray for us oh mighty God we confess with great joy that you are the sovereign lord of all things you tower over all things you are the maker and sustainer of all things and every day every second you are working out your sovereign plans and purposes we praise you that you sent your own willing son into this world to die on the cross for our sins your precious one who died cancelling out the record of debt that stood against us with all of its legal demands father we thank you that this he set aside nailing it to the cross and we praise you that when christ did that for us at the same time he also disarmed leviathan and all his evil rulers and authorities and put them to open shame triumphing over them we praise you almighty god for your grace that would let us sinners share in such a glorious victory over evil and we pray that whenever we find ourselves facing leviathan's evil presence in our lives today father may we not shrink away in despair but instead boldly turn to you and cry out to you and remember that you are the sovereign lord who works all things together for the good of those who love you and we pray this in jesus precious name amen